Life as seen through the eyes of a frum Reform Jewish rabbi changing the world one Jew at a time

Better Late Than…Oh Forget it!

Thursday, 20 December 2007

Unlike our calendar which appears fluid to the untrained eye, Christmas seems to be in the same spot year-after-year. Which is why I cannot understand why I am taken by surprise each year when the last day before Winter Break suddenly happens and I’m pressed to select the gifts for Beernut’s teachers.

To be fair, I thought that today was the last day before Break and that is because today was originally noted on the district schedule as the last day. And then somewhere along the way, today became a “student-free day” and school abruptly ended one day earlier than I had planned.

Every day this week I had planned to do a quick shopping trip to pick up gifts for Beernut’s classroom teacher, his afterschool teachers, and the two ladies who staff the front office. I had always thought that the classified staff might be overlooked at this time of year and want them to know that their work is valued.

And every day this week…well, you can imagine how crazy it’s been after being away from my study for the Biennial.

So I figured that after dropping the younger kids at school, Beernut and I would go and select the gifts and then run them by the school.

Beernut LOVED this idea. I should have known. It isn’t enough that he looks like his Uncle ACE or that he acts like his Uncle ACE. His style of shopping is just like his Uncle ACE too! Beernut got immense pleasure from carefully selecting just the right gift. S-l-o-w-l-y! Brilliance cannot be rushed, apparently. He especially noted how nice the women in the front office have been to him and chose something quite special for each one.

Like this:

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hilarious. this is the way things go in my life too. except i’m either more or less ambitious than you depending on how you look at it. i actually try to *make* the gifts at the last minute *and* involve the kid. i just can’t imagine how i think this ever is going to end well but i do. so wednesday night i got home at 8pm after religious school and dipped about 100 pretzels in chocolate and sprinkles for the bus drivers, the postman, and the whole class for the “holiday” party (which is another topic for another post, i’m sure!) … are you in day school or public school? this is all new for me and it’s stressful let me tell you. (and thank goodness for group gifts that the room moms coordinate and i just write a check!) wow, a long comment:-)

Are you INSANE??? It’s moms like you who put the rest of us working moms to shame! Ay yi yi.

We are in public and yes, it was such a transition for us. Still is, to be honest. They don’t do the group gift thing as Beernut’s school so it gets a little crazy. At the J, we do the group gift thing but many of the parents also give individual gifts IN ADDITION to the group one. We don’t do that for two reasons — one, it defeats the purpose of the group effort and two, we can’t afford it!

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